WARNING! Do not run StartRight on any OS/machine that can not create a Restore Point! StartRight performs as advertised, BUT should you want to reverse the effects of StartRight on your boot-up/start-up process, that's where the spanner hits the gears! I was of the opinion that StartRight actually lengthened my start-up time, but the longer start-up (about 45 seconds) was smoother and less chaotic than a normal Windows start. I have about 15 apps starting under XP Pro. When I attempted to restore the start-up sequence to normal, it was light out! About half of my start-up entries had disappeared from the start-up folders! Fortunately, I make it a habit to create a Restore Point at boot-up at the start of the day. Reverting to the boot-up Restore Point saved my blood pressure from spiking! RightStart is OK to run, just be sure you have a Restore Point as back-up!
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UltraDefrag 1.2.1 looks very good; the GUI is eye catching and very colorful. Unfortunately, the performance of UltraDefrag 1.2.1 leaves much to be desired! I tested UltraDefrag on my 200GB HDD with about 50% of free space; UltraDefrag found 700+ fragmented files; it defragged 300+ files leaving 400+ files still fragmented! I'm not referring to System files or other HDD files that can't be defragged; the un-defragged files were music files, text files, etc; just ordinary files. UltraDefrag does provide the user with a very nice listing of the un-defragged files, I would just like to know why the files weren't defragmented! I'll pass on this HDD defragger!
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Advanced WindowsCare Personal is not for the novice user! I dare say that an average user might have problems with this program. I've been working with computers for more than 10 years and I almost got burnt! There are about 99 ways to screw up you OS, web browser and ancillary files and functions with this program! A#1 consideration, create Restore points! Lots of them! A wise computer techie once told me that you can never have too many Restore points! You need to be VERY CAREFUL with your file and function selections! Check, check and recheck! Measure twice and cut once! While the program is very fast and efficient at it's advertised functions, there are numerous screens where the user must decide on the proper course of action. Read twice, select once! De-select the functions that you have low confidence in performing correctly! I realize that the vendor is out to make a Dollar (or Euro) but the nag lines are overwhelming and very distracting! Not good!
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I saw the Spider Player program numerous times, but never bothered to download the file; it looked like a plain vanilla player; was I wrong! Spider Player is a very nice multi-media player, and I do mean small. It's installed size is only 4.09MB under XP Pro. RAM and CPU load is very small; it's like a slimed down Winamp! It's simplistic to use and the functions are as basic as point and click; there is heavy use of right-click functions, but I was conformable with the functions within 20 minutes of install. My only hinks; file timer is ascending only (I prefer a descending timer) and no configurations for the cross-fader and no on/off option. I listen to a lot of streaming Internet radio (.m3u and .pls streams) both Winamp and WMPlayer have trouble playing these streams; I'm using Spider Player as my default stream player; so far, so good, no problems. Give this little player a try, you'll like it!
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Value

Recommend to a friend? Yes

Posted Oct 04, 2007 for v2.0

The software developer responded to this review on Nov 23, 2008:
Quote: "My only hinks; file timer is ascending only (I prefer a descending timer) and no configurations for the cross-fader and no on/off option."
You change between time elapsed and time remaining by clicking on time label.
Crossfading effect can be configured in Spider Player s sound options. To turn it off simply set crossfading length to zero. However in the most recent versions it should be off by default.

Duplicate Cleaner is the duplicate music file cleaner that I've been looking for! The GUI is excellent and no help files are needed. The program installed without any hangups and the configuration took about 1 minute! All the functions are clearly marked and require no "how does this work?" time and effort! The program scanned 19GB of mixed music files (.mp3/4, .ogg., and .wma) in about 2 minutes. I'm running XP Pro. The "Selection Assistant" allows the user to specify how the duplicate music files are to be ranked and selected. There are at least 6 selection criteria for the removal process. And contrary to the program description, the removal process options allow the dupe files to be sent to the Recycle bin. My primary use of Duplicate Cleaner is for music files, so I can't comment on the non-music file functions; but those functions appear to be quite detailed.
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I have used several compress/decompress utilities over the past few years, but ZipGenius is hands down the best freeware utility! I've been using ZipGenius for the past 2 years and have rarely had any problems compressing or decompressing files. The available protocols and file extensions that can be handled by ZipGenius are all that I've ever needed. Compressing or decompressing large files is never a problem with ZipGenius. The available options for using the utility are just a right mouse click away; no complex set up or loads of options to figure out. Configuring ZipGenius is as easy as 1-2-3! You can't go wrong with the ZipGenius utility!
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Well..., Clickster works and it is different from other music file search engines; albeit, mp3 files only. I just can't see using Clickster for anything more than a fast file listen or a quick download. The file info is practically non-existent! The file info that is displayed is cryptic and tells me nothing about the music file. The available mp3 files is certainly limited, to say the least! I tried searching several known music files, and found very few versions of the songs that even resembled the requested music file! But, Clickster does have an embedded mp3 player that sounds reasonably decent. Bottom line, Clickster will not replace Limewire on my PC!
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Interface

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Ease of use

Value

Recommend to a friend? No

Posted Sep 30, 2007 for v1.50

The software developer responded to this review on Oct 01, 2007:
Hello and thanks for your thoughts. I m sorry to read of your overall disappointment of Clickster. In response I can only say that I will continue working on this application to make it better. As for seeking to replace Limewire, that was never one of Clickster`s aims. I wouldn t want it to replace anything, it s just about choice and for me, Clickster was and is a fun project to work on. Besides, Limewire is owned by a large multinational company with whole teams of programmers and the financial recourses to make anything happen. With Clickster, it s just no-money-me and so, unless Hell freezes over, Osama bin Laden becomes the next President of the USA and my bipolar goes into lightspeed-mania, I really don`t think I will ever come close to competing with Limewire? Anyway, I m sorry you were disappointed, but I m grateful for your honesty and your comments will encourage me to continue developing a better product; one that meets all expectations...or as near to that as I can. A new version will be along towards the end of October; you may want to give it a boot?